East Oregon
Desert
June 16, 2007.
We are staying at Mountain View Travel Park in Baker
City. $24.79 FHU, shade and a nice enough RV-Park. It must
be a former KOA -- Keep On Adding since they charge extra for everything,
$2 extra for wifi, $2 extra for larger sites, you get the picture
KOA Keep On Adding..
Oregon welcome sign on I-84
We are traveling from Idaho into Oregon on I-84. As we crossed over
the Snake River we were in Oregon.
Desert scene on I-84 in eastern Oregon
The desert continued into Oregon as you can see.
Farewell Bend State Park in Oregon
This is Farewell Bend State Park in Oregon. It was given the name
because it is where emigrants on the Oregon
Trail left the Snake River that they had been following for
over 300-miles. Emigrants had grown fond of the Snake River. At Farewell
Bend emigrants were compelled to walk or die since certain death lay
ahead in any descent of Hells Canyon which lay ahead for those that
contemplated following the Snake River.
Their good-bye to the Snake was heart felt.
The Burnt River canyon was equally unforgiving. Purposeful burning
of the hillsides by Indians helped ensure fine grass for livestock,
but the path twisted around the river, and heavy brush slowed progress.
For four or five days, emigrants wandered back and forth across the
riverbed, braved the slopes, and struggled with overturned wagons.
Their reward? Virtue Flat --- and more sagebrush!
Lime, Oregon
As we passed through a small town called Lime we spotted limestone
on this hill.
Desert scene on I-84 in eastern Oregon
Note that we are still in a desert. That is a train tunnel on the
left side of the interstate.
Cement plant in Lime, Oregon
On the other side of that large hill was this cement plant obviously
taking advantage of the limestone in this area.
Red Neck Cafe sign I-84 exit 327 in
eastern Oregon
Joyce was
quick with the camera when she snapped this advertisement on I-84
as we were moving the motorhome to Baker
City, Oregon.
Beginning in 1843, thousands of Oregon
Trail emigrants trekked through this region toward new lives
in the West. This epic journey indelibly etched the landscape with
wagon ruts such as these.
Of the 2170 miles of the Oregon
Trail, approximately 300 miles of ruts remain. Swales created
by thousands of wagon wheels and the trampling of draft animals are
deep in some areas, shallow in other places. Much of the trail has
disappeared due to natural erosion, and development of farms, highways,
cities and towns. In some places, the Oregon
Trail, or Emigrant
Road as it was generally called in the 1800's, was later used
by automobiles.
Keep in mind that emigrants on the Oregon
Trail plodded through this desert area sometime between mid-August
and late-September.
Eastern Oregon became a destination for gold-seekers and settlers--many
arrived from the Willamette Valley reversing their initial journey
along the Oregon
Trail to settle in this area.
Mining camps sprang up with the prospect of gold and many boomed
into towns. By 1862 the town of Auburn, which no longer exists, had
a population over 5,000 and was among Oregon's largest cities. Local
settlers established farms and stores, providing hay and produce to
miners, and for much of the 1860s large wagon trains loaded with freight
were a common site along this segment of the Oregon
Trail.
Placer deposits of gold sparked Oregon's gold rush boom, but lode
mining became an industry. Placer miners worked from sunrise to sundown.
They panned, cradled, rocked and ground-sluiced the paydirt. They
invested in crazy contraptions called " gold machines,"
and hoarded their precious gold in leather pouches and fruit jars.
They also helped found towns like Auburn, Baker City, Eldorado, Sumpter,
and Granite.
While this picture shows a picture of gold mines in the east Oregon
desert I am sharing it so you can understand that eastern Oregon is
truly a desert in every sense of the word.
Mike & Joyce Hendrix
Mike
& Joyce Hendrix who we are
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